Bolster bumper



March 10, 1953 O, w 2,631,030

BOLSTER BUMPER Filed May 8, 1947 2 SHEETSSHEET l Van/for: Al red d MZLL'am March 10, 1953 A. 0. WILLIAMS 2,631,030

BOLSTER BUMPER Filed May 8. 1947 2 SHEETS-SHEET 2 fizv/ezzior i lffl d' 0. Mlldf/ZS Patented Mar. 10, 1953 UNITED STATES PATE OFFICE BOLSTER BUMPER Alfred 0. Williams, Battle Creek, assignor to Clark Equipment Company, Buchanan, Mich.,a corporation of Michigan 7 Application May 8, 1947, Serial No. 746,701

2 Claims.

1; This invention relates to rail car truck and more particularly is directed to an improved type of rail. car truck for use, on surface lines,

subway and elevated lines. in metropolitan areas.

The, present invention is broadly concerned with a truck construction of the. type described in detail in my co-pending application, Serial No. 721,993, filed January 14, 1947., now abancloned.

The truck with which my present invention is embodied includes. a bolster having. a non-metallic cushioned. support to allow lateral and erallyof the truck.

A primary object of my present invention is.

to provide a.- non-metallic restraining member, having a varying rate of. deflection, interposed between the, bolster and the inner side of the sideframe member, which comes int play whenever the bolster tends to oscillate laterally relative .7 to the truck, serving as a cushioning and dampening memberfor. restrainingsuch oscillation; thereby. increasing the-resistancejof' such oscillation gradually, rather than interrupting this motion suddenly. I

In addition, the present invention has, for

- another .object, the provisionofthelateral cushioning members which not only supplement the vertical rubber members for supporting aportion of" the body load, but give amo-re rapidbuild-up cit-resistance to longitudinal-oscillation of-thebolsterrelative-the-truck.

Otherobjects and advantages of. thepresen-t invention will appear more fully from the following detailed description, which, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings,

will disclose to those skilled in the art, the particular construction and operation offa preferred term of the present invention;

In the drawings:

Figure 1 is a top plan view of a rail truck embodying the present invention.

Figure 2 is a detailed side elevational view at the bolster support with portions broken away for purposes oficlarity.

Figure 3 is a sectional view taken substantially on line 33 of Figure 2.

Figure 4' is a side elevational view: of th bumper mechanism shown in Figure 2.

Figure 5 is atop plan View of the bumper member shown in Figure .2.

Referring now in detail to the drawings, the truck consists generally of the top side frame members, indicated at 5, which'extend in parallel relationship and are provided with depending post portions 6, spaced on opposite sides of transverse axle housings l. The axle housings 1 may be of the type shown generally in the copendingapplication of Robert J. Burrows and Alfred 0. Williams, Serial No. 567,618, filedDecember 11, 1944, and issued on October 29, 19%, as Patent No. 2,410,011, and enclose a solid axle shaft which projects beyond the ends of the housings and has pressed thereon, resilient car wheels 8; The wheels 8 are preferably of the type wherein the tread member or rim i resiliently supported by rubber sandwiches upon a flanged hub member.

Intermediate'theends of the axleshaft upon which thewheels are mounted, there is provided a bevel gear drive, adapted tobe enclosed within the enlarged portion 9 of the axle housings-and to be driven b'y'the shaft l0 carrying a driving pinion extending into thenose portion l 2 of the housings 9 and connected, in turn, througha suitable. universal joint connection, to th drive shaft I 3, which extends from the electric driving motors M. It will be noted that the two motors carried by the truck are positioned in laterallyofiset and longitudinally spaced position relative to the truck, and face in opposite directions.

The motors 4 are adapted to besupported in the cradle portions t5 of transverse framemembers l6, which extendcrosswise-between theside frame elements, and are provided with suitable pad" portions f1, whereby they are weldedto "the under surface of the .-sidemembers: )5. The

transverse members It are also providemwith -means of the bolts 33.

openings l8, through which the drive shaft I3 of the opposed motors are adapted to extend. The cradle portion l5 of these members is adapted to receive a cap member l9, bolted thereon, which firmly supports the motors in fixed position on the transverse members.

Preferably, there is provided a motor shaft brake, indicated generally at 20,, which, through the actuating rod 22, extending laterally outwardly beneath the frame members 5, is adapted to provide braking action for the truck and which may be actuated either by air pressure or by electrical controls in a wellknown manner.

The transverse bolster member 25, which extends between the side frames of the truck intermediate the cross members 16, has provided therein the king pin opening 26 for receiving the king pin or a car body, and has oppositely extending end portions 28 which project laterally beneath the side frame members 5. These side frame members 5 are provided on opposite sides of the extending ends 28 of the bolster with downwardly depending parallel spaced plates 29 which may be welded or otherwise suitably secured to the side frame members, as indicated at 29', and which terminate at their lower ends by being welded to depending bracket members .30, which bracket members hav the ends thereof bent upwardly and secured to the frame at the point where the transverse frame members l6 are secured to the side frame members 5.

Mounted on the members or brackets 36 intermediate the plates 29, is a vertically extended multiple stack of horizontally disposed rubber sandwiches, indicated generally at 33, these sandwiches having metal plates vulcanized to ol posite faces thereof, with the lowermost plate 3| being bolted to the bracket member as by The extending ends 28 of the bolster member 25, are preferably of inverted channel shape, as indicated at 34, and are provided with suitable bolt means for fastening the upper plate 35 of the spring assembly to the under face of the web portion of the bolster end 34, as by means of bolts extending through the bolt holes, indicated in dotted lines in Figure 2. t

The ends 28 of the bolster 25 are provided adjacent the inboard edges of the plates 28, with boss portions 36, upon which is disposed a fiat plate member 31, supporting the flanged end 38 of a bracket 39, the opposite end of the bracket 39 bein supported upon' the bos 48 of the-curved portion of the bolster and being secured thereto by means of the's-tud bolt 42.

The bolts 43 are adapted to extend through the web portion 34 of the end 28 of the bolster,

- through the boss 36 and the plate 3i and then through the flanged end 38 of the bracket 39 for securing this bracket rigidly to the end of the bolster 25. Two of such bolts are indicated at-43 in Figure 2, and the other two bolts, which are disposed on opposite sides of the bolts 43, extend through the dotted line openings for securing the upper end of the cushioning member 35 to the end of the bolster.

The side flanges of the channel shaped end 34 of the bolster, indicated at 44, have machined outer surfaces, adapted to be engaged by the plate members 45 of a rubber sandwich 4B, which plate members have extending ear portions bolted to the side flanges 44, as bymeans of the bolts 41. The opposite plates of the sandwich 46 are secured to the facing surface of 4 the depending plates 29 as by means of bolts 48, thereby positioning the sandwiches 46 between the side flanges of the bolster end and the plates 29 fixed on the side frame. Thu the cushioning members 46 are placed in vertical shear to support a portion of the load of the bolster, the main portion of which is carried by the compression of the stack of cushioning members 33.

Mounted on the vertical face of the brackets 39, there is provided rubber bumper members 50, which members include a rubber body element 52, as shown in Figures 4 and5 of varying cross section and preferably'provided with perforations 53 and 54 to give this member a non-uniform rate of compression, and, in effect. an increasing rate of compression per unit of load. The rubber member 52 is vulcanized at its base to a plate member 54', carrying the stud 55 by which the same may be secured to the bracket 39. The configuration of the bumper members 50, wherein the forward end has a gradually reducing rounded portion and the transverse openings 53 and 54 formed therethrough decrease in diameter from the rounded end to the metallic base, is such that an increasing rate of resistance per unit of load is offered by the bumper members 50. It will be noticed that the forward end of the bumper 5B is disposed adjacent the inner lateral surface of the side frame member 5, so that upon lateral movement of the bolster 25, relative the truck, the bumper will come in contact with this side face and serve to cushion or restrain, by gradually increasing increment, the lateral movement of the bolster.

The remaining details of the truck construction are substantially the same as shown in my co-pending. application referred to above, and hence, it is not believed necessary to describe them further.

It will be apparent that with the present construction, there is provided a bolster support on the side frame elements of the truck, whereby the bolster member is cushioned by non-metallic means with respect to vertical loads, but is arranged to have limited vertical and lateral movement. The vertical load is taken by the conjoint action of elements 33 and 4%, the elements 46, in this case, actin in shear. The elements 46 also act in shear in combination with she r action on the elements 33 to restrain lateral movement of the bolster and the bumpers 59, providing a gradually increasing increment of resistance to such lateral movement.

I am aware that various changes maybe made in certain details of the construction herein disclosed, and therefore, I do not intend to be limited except as defined by the scope and spirit of the appended claims.

I claim: I

l. A bumper for the bolster of a rail car truck to cushion transverse oscillations thereof relative to the side frame members of said truck comprising a, nonmetallic resilient cylindrical body member having a gradually reducing rounded end, and seated on a fiat metallic base, said member having a plurality of transverse holes formed therethrough decreasing in diam eter from said rounded end to said metallic base.

2. A bumper for the bolster of a rail car truck to cushion transverse oscillations thereof relative to the side frame members of said truck comprising a nonmetallic resilient block member seated on a flat metallic base, and said mem- 5 6 her having a plurality of transverse holes form Number .Name Date therethrough increasing in diameter from sai 1,901,945 Avery Mar. 21, 1933 metallic base to the outer end thereof. 1,924,237 Glascodine Aug. 29, 1933 ALFRED O. WILLIAMS- 2,046,391 Latshaw July '7, 1936 5 2,058,623 Protzeller et a1. Oct. 27, 1936 REFERENCES CITED 2,099,031 Neal et a1. Nov. 15, 193'! The following references are of record in the 2,287,575 sfil s J e 1942 file of this patent: 2,299,576 Hallquist Oct. 20, 1942 2,313,740 Eksergian et a1. Mar. 16, 1943 Numb UNITEDNSTATES PATENTS D t 10 2,347,500 Parke Apr. 25, 1944 er ame a e 1,552,955 Smith Sept. 8, 1925 FQREIGN PATENTS 1,560,655 Brewster Nov. 10, 1925 Number Country Date 1,608,856 Masury Nov. 30, 1926 458,575 Germany Mar. 2, 1926 1,744,408 Millard Jan. 21, 1930 15 603,049 Germany Jan. 17, 1931 

